Sunday, March 24, 2013

One Out, Two MAAC Men's Teams Still In CIT Event

Two men's teams from the MAAC remain alive in the Collegeinsiders.com Tournament (CIT), while a third saw its season end in that event Saturday.

Out is Rider, which saw its season end by a 75-54 score to East Carolina in a second-round CIT contest in Greenville, N.C.

Rider finishes 19-15 after playing in its fourth post-season event in the past six years.

"The way we played today is not the way we won this year," said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett, afterwards. "We were pressing a little bit, and we just gave up too many 50-50 balls."

Still alive are Loyola and Canisius.

The Greyhounds play their second-round game later today, while the Griffs have already advanced beyond the second round of the event.

Loyola will host Kent State today at 3 p.m. in the Greyhounds' on-campus Reitz Arena.

Loyola's appearance in the event marks the first time in its Division I history it has played in postseason tournaments in back-to-back seasons.

Canisius continued to advance in the CIT by rallying from a 22-point deficit with 18:17 remaining to eventually knock off Youngstown State, 84-82, in overtime Saturday night in the second round of the event played in Youngstown, Ohio.

The victory enables the Golden Griffins to advance to the CIT quarterfinal round where they'll host Evansville in the Koessler Athletic Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Junior guard Billy Baron had a game-high 30 points in the victory, including 26 after halftime. Senior guard Alshwan Hymes added a season-high 19 points off the bench as the winners outscored Youngstown State 56-37 in the final 25 minutes of game action.

The victory pushes the Griffs' record to 20-13 overall this season, the program's first 20-victory season since 2000-01.